Following your probationer survey last week, I would draw your attention to the following incident which is not just unfair, but ethically wrong.

A position arose at a Central Scotland primary school for a temporary teacher for six months. This job should have been posted on myjobscotland (as stated on the council’s own webpage, where no jobs have been posted since before April 2011), or advertised through the council’s supply list by email.

I was told this morning that it would have been advertised through the supply list (via email), but it wasn’t. I also know for a fact that the person it was given to was never on the council’s supply list. My questions are:

How does someone who is not on the supply list for that local authority get the job? Or even find out about it?

How does an NQT who didn’t even do their probationary year in that LA get that position?

I know this sounds like sour grapes, but I am more annoyed by the blatant flouting of the LA’s own policies on recruitment.

It’s also well-known that councils such as Falkirk, Clackmannanshire and Stirling, to name a few, have only been advertising internally. Surely this is against employment laws on discrimination?

I “ticked” the box for my probationary year and ended up in Aberdeenshire, only to find that internal vacancies stopped me applying for jobs in my own LA. So now I am in the position where I have qualified as an NQT, had my practice in relation to Curriculum for Excellence recognised by Learning and Teaching Scotland, and cannot even apply for a job in my LA.

I’m now stuck in the Glasgow area, applying to every LA in the land, having submitted 70-plus applications and got one interview.

I’m not bitter, as I’m still applying for everything going. I just find this incident a little hard to swallow, given the current climate.

Unemployed NQT.